Fitness Professional & Writer

Exercise Spotlight: Anti-Rotation Mountain Climber

Surprisingly, even after a fairly comprehensive YouTube search, I wasn’t able to find anything like today’s exercise. So I needed a name, and I had a seriously tough time coming up with one. I’m still debating, but I think I’m going to run with the Anti-Rotation Mountain Climber.

This name does a decent job of honing in on the primary focus of the movement (resisting rotation), but doesn’t quite encompass everything that’s going on. Really, it should be called the Band Resisted Single Leg Anti-Rotation Slider Mountain Climber. Or something ridiculously long and obnoxious.

Not quite as catchy, is it? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. But that’s enough rambling about a name for an exercise that probably isn’t even unique. Let’s take a look…

Benefits

The cross-body band positioning places anti-rotation demands on the hip and torso, requiring the obliques and hip external rotators to fire hard to counteract the forward and downward pull.

The single leg component builds major hip awareness, control, and stability (plus a lot more).

The band provides a little resistance to hip and knee extension that’s otherwise not present in the typical mountain climber.

The addition of the slider places the working leg under constant tension. It’s a total quad burner.

The entire shoulder complex has to “turn on” to keep the hand with the band in position, especially when the working leg slides back.

Cues

Drive the hand with the band into the floor. Try to push the floor away from you.

Maintain neutral hips and spinal positioning throughout the movement. You’re going to want to extend your lumbar spine and internally rotate your hip during the kick. You’re also probably going to want to flex your lumbar spine as you bring the working leg back in. Don’t do either of these.

Squeeze the glute of the working leg hard to drive into extension. The addition of the band should make it easier for you to feel the end-point of the movement.

During the slide, make sure to push your leg straight back – resist the inward pull from the band.

Band resistance does not need to be huge. Range of motion does not need to be huge.

If for some reason you need to make this harder (WTF?), extend the non-working leg instead of keeping it pulled in.